Hour 2

First impressions of the iPhone XR, how to know if your Facebook account has been hacked, what to look for when buying a new laptop, learning about iPhone photography, troubleshooting a Mac after an update, a good camera for live video streaming, and more of your calls!

Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Cheryl is concerned that with the recent Facebook security breach, her account will be hacked. Leo says it's more likely that someone will counterfeit her account, lifting her images, and change it just slightly to fool people she knows to friend it. Facebook has reset all 30 million accounts so that users would have to change their passwords. Leo also would recommend turning on 2 factor authentication.

Glen is looking for a good 4K Blu-ray player for his parent's new Sony Master Series 4K TV. Scott Wilkinson says that Sony makes a great player. Last year's Sony X700 supports every format, including HDR10 and Dolby Vision. But this year's X800 does not.

Oppo would have been a good option, but they've left the business. Leo says that the XBox One S is a great option, if he'd like playing games as well. But he'd need to get a new remote for it.

Peter upgraded his iPhone to the latest version of iOS 12, and ever since then, his text messages haven't been sending right away. Leo says the first thing to do is call his carrier. There are two ways messages get sent on an iPhone, however. It's either being sent with iMessage which uses his data, or as an SMS. He's only having this problem with the built-in Messages app, and it's with everyone. Leo thinks it has to do with his wireless carrier.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Chris has the new iPhone XS and the wireless Apple AirPods, but he keeps getting distortion when he takes calls. Not when listening to music or watching video, though. Leo says that Bluetooth headphones have two different modes. There's a mode for use as a headset for calls and A2DP. A2DP is stereo and was designed for listening to music. Headset mode uses the minimum bandwidth possible. So that could affect it. Also, a phone call that is routed through the internet can be full bandwidth and it may be that the AirPods just can't handle it. There are some headsets that support HD Voice using A2DP mode. Plantronics makes a model that does.

Apple is also using Bluetooth 4.2, which is a bit long in the tooth. Bluetooth 5 is the current standard, and even the phones support it. Leo expects the second generation Apple AirPods will be coming soon.

Leo also says this is one of the reasons why he is angry over Apple dropping the headphone jack. Wired is still better.

Sam wants to get a laptop. How are the Lenovo's? Leo says that he doesn't care for the consumer grade line, but the ThinkPad business line is second to none. Dell makes a good laptop in the Inspiron line. 17" is a big large for a laptop, and the battery life will be terrible. I t may be better to get a 13 or 15" and then get a 27" monitor to plug it into when you are your desk. Leo also recommends buying the Gold level support. Costco offers support too that is pretty good.

Should he go Mac instead? Leo says that's a personal decision. But Apple's laptops are top notch.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Wyatt does a ministry online and would like a camera that will follow him and do professional grade graphics and B roll video. Leo says that the Meevo is great because it does Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Vimeo live and others. IT's very sophisticated.

Richard wants to know if there's a good podcast on iPhone photography. Leo says that Chris Marquardt has a podcast called The Future of Photography which discusses how mobile photography is evolving and using computational photography to close the gap with optical zoom lenses. Some mobile cameras are as good as micro 4/3s cameras, according to some experts. Another good resource is DPReview.com.

Mike would like to have an Android phone, but he needs to use one iPhone app. Leo says that in most cases, most big name apps are available on both platform. But unique apps, like a mixing board app, would probably be solely on one platform or the other. So in Mike's case, it's only available in iOS. All you can really do is pester the app developer to port the app to Android. You could get a low priced iPad for around $250-330 and dedicate it to that one use.

Rich is starting to get a lot of drop outs of his internet access. He gets an alarm on his mesh router whenever it happens, and he's been told the problem is with Comcast, not his router. Leo says that it is then required of Comcast to fix it. Leo recommends getting your own cable modem. Check with Comcast and see which DOCSIS III cable modems are supported. Not only will you get a newer modem, but you'll also pay $10 a month less in modem rental fees.

Brett just updated to OSX Mojave and hangs up on the login screen. Leo says clearing the PRAM or parameter ram can sometimes solve issues like this. Also, reboot with CMD R and that will enable you to reinstall the OS. Maybe it wasn't updated properly. If that doesn't work, Leo recommends making an appointment at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store.

Chatroom says to boot into safe mode, press and hold the shift key, and it will install the absolute minimum. If it works OK after that, then there's an app that isn't compatible that's hanging things up.

This Week in Tech News

There's a huge security flaw in WINRAR, that will enable hackers to take over your computer. So Leo advises that if you use WINRAR to zip/unzip your files, that you should update to the latest beta version. But you have to go to the WINRAR site and manually download the update. There is no automatic update.

Accusing Apple of anti competitive behavior, Spotify's music streaming service says that the company charges a 30% commission for subscriptions through the Apple store, while charging 30% less for their own music service.

Leo bought the Samsung Galaxy S10+, a phone with 10TB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a ceramic back. For $1500. Leo says it's a really nice phone. Reviews are mixed, but buyers seem to like it, with preorders doubling the last generation. Samsung has avoided "the notch," but instead, they have a "hole punch," which houses two selfie cameras. Is that any different than the notch? Not really. It's also nearly as big as the Note 9 and has the best screen on the market. But Leo says it's so fast that it's hyper-responsive. It reacts to being touched on the edge. It also has three cameras on the back. It also has an under-screen fingerprint ID, which isn't very fast and requires a little patience. AND IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK!

In a new announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook is moving towards a more privacy-focused experience, including encryption, private groups, and more. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook doesn't have a reputation for security and privacy, and they plan to change all that. With sharing on Facebook going down by 25%, especially with younger users, Zuckerberg says that the social media network is going to move from a town square, to your own living room. It's a serious PIVOT. Leo says that Zuckerberg has made promises like this before, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Is it possible to have a privacy-focused Facebook? Only time will tell, but Leo says it's a good idea.